Fan Review: Avril Lavigne – “Avril Lavigne” (Epic/Sony)

Since 2002, Canadian pop-rocker Avril Lavigne has been topping charts with hit singles and admired albums that have captured fans with their fun and youthful, yet meaningful lyrics. With her fifth, Self-Titled studio album released on Tuesday, Lavigne delivers yet another strong and powerful record sure to keep her fan base impressed.

Lavigne makes sure to keep things fresh and exciting by including collaborations with her new husband, Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger (who also co-wrote a majority of the songs) and Marilyn Manson who definitely helps make for the different, yet interesting track, “Bad Girl.” Although the song featuring Manson is very catchy with impressive instrumental work, this collaboration is somewhat odd and unexpected, and reminds me a bit of Green Day’s material.

The song “Let Me Go,” which features Kroeger, contains lyrics that really stood out and stuck with me, however in the end I believe that it sounded more like a Nickelback song rather than an Avril Lavigne song, which I liked, but was surprised by. Another song that really stood out was “Hush Hush,” as it really draws on Lavigne’s older material (from her debut album Let Go) with its powerful lyrics.

Lavigne also made sure to stick with themes that are evident right from the first song all the way to the last, including being youthful and living while you’re young. Here, she is able to portray those themes in every song, especially during “Sippin’ on Sunshine” and “Here’s to Never Growing Up.” Even though these themes are evident in a lot of her work, Lavigne has managed to come across as more grown up this time around, by also addressing more mature topics such as love, finding someone you truly love and also losing someone you love. This will allow Lavigne to keep her young teenage fan base with songs like “17” and “Bitchin’ Summer,” both of which are sure to be hits at live shows. Also, she could attract a more mature fan base with songs like “Falling Fast.”

Furthermore, Lavigne manages to go a bit more into the pop scene with songs like “Hello Kitty” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” but also pleases her die-hard fans by sticking to her signature rock n’ roll style with songs like the previously mentioned “Bad Girl” and “Rock N Roll.”

Overall, I absolutely love this album and I think that Lavigne manages to impress with, and execute a great pop-rock album that every fan is sure to love.

This album is: Riff Respected

Review by: Tanja Saric

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